Trumpet Fanfare

I shot the reference photo of red trumpet flowers at the Gould Castle on the north shore of Long Island, this past summer. Since I had run out of paper, I did this pastel over the top of another that didn't make the cut, and wound up having to "build up" quite a bit giving it a very painterly look. I love working with soft pastels for that feature, but they are extremely messy. I tend to get overly aggressive, resulting in a very short life for the softer pastels ie. Schminke & Sennelier, and terrible looking fingernails. Never do a pastel like this just before an interview.